The Calgary Flames are in no rush to trade Nikita Zadorov, despite a public trade request from the defenceman’s agent Friday night.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported during Saturday Headlines on Hockey Night in Canada that the Flames were radio silent on Saturday, an indication the club was trying to “calm everything down” after Zadorov’s agent Dan Milstein ignited social media when he indicated his client would not be signing a new contract in Calgary.
“I do think the Flames made it very clear to Zadorov that while they might be willing to move him, they’re going to do it on their own timetable,” Friedman said.
As Friedman points out during the segment, the Flames have three veteran defencemen who are pending unrestricted free agents: Zadorov, Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev. With the Flames off to a slow start to the season, teams have begun to call the Flames about the trio but Friedman says the club will be careful to manage the trio of trades to not undercut themselves in the bidding.
“It’s believed Vancouver and Toronto are among the teams interested in Tanev and Zadorov, if not both,” Friedman said. “And Arizona was a team that took a long look at Noah Hanifin this week.
“Now what I think this did do, the agent’s tweets last night, was bring other teams in to kinda see where this was, what Calgary’s timetable was and what the price could be.”
